Executive TLDR
John Witri left a law partnership to pursue purpose through Primerica.
True transformation comes from recruiting and field training.
Protected index strategies help clients grow without fear.
Leadership growth multiplies both impact and income.
Approach every day with unstoppable enthusiasm.
Video Summary
From Law Partner To Purpose
John Witri grew up in Detroit, Michigan, the youngest of six children in a middle-class family. A strong student, he attended the University of Michigan before graduating from law school and joining the prestigious firm Baker Hostetler in Cleveland.
By age 31, he made partner with a six-figure income.
But success on paper didn’t equal fulfillment.
He described living with a constant “Sunday night feeling” — anxiety that eventually consumed every day of the week.
The Opportunity Meeting That Changed Everything
Two years after making partner, he received a voicemail from a recruiter with Primerica.
He almost skipped the meeting.
Instead, he attended an opportunity event at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
There were only three people in attendance.
But one of them was him.
The presenter, Jerry Byer, drove three hours to deliver the overview. That single meeting redirected Witri’s life.
Two weeks later, he gave notice.
Ten months after going full-time, he became a Vice President.
Today, his organization has promoted 20 Regional Vice Presidents — with a goal to double that number.
Protected Growth With Equitable
Witri explains why he became excited about a protected index strategy introduced around 2018 through Equitable.
The appeal was simple:
Clients want market growth — but they fear losses.
This structured product allows participation in the S&P 500 price return index with defined downside protection.
How It Works
There are two key components:
A cap on upside growth
A buffer against downside loss
In one version, the dual-direction 15% buffer:
Provides upside participation up to a high cap
Converts certain negative returns (within the buffer) into positive gains
Limits catastrophic downside exposure
Historically, over six-year rolling periods dating back decades, the index rarely experienced deep sustained losses. In extreme cases, losses were minimal within this structured protection.
For clients with “scared money,” this creates confidence.
Why Clients Like It
Witri emphasizes the messaging advantage:
For portions of portfolios clients don’t need to access for several years, advisors can offer:
Market-linked growth
No traditional advisory fees
No sales charges
No rider costs
Simplified structure
It differentiates the advisor in competitive conversations.
He also acknowledges alternatives from Lincoln Financial Group and Brighthouse Financial, reinforcing that the goal is client fit — not brand loyalty.
Assets Built Through Leadership
Personally, Witri has accumulated significant assets under management within this strategy — and even more within his broader hierarchy.
But he makes one thing clear:
Over 90% of that volume came from:
Recruiting
Field training
Licensing
Promoting
Everything multiplies through leadership.
Securities growth is not separate from recruiting — it flows from it.
The Leadership Mindset
Witri closes with a philosophy inspired by Jim Harbaugh:
Approach every day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
And then ask:
Who’s got it better than us?
Nobody.
That mindset fuels recruiting, promotions, production, and culture.
Core Themes
Success without purpose feels empty
One meeting can change your trajectory
Protected growth builds client confidence
Recruiting drives every income stream
Enthusiasm creates momentum
Primerica didn’t just increase Witri’s income.
It transformed his life’s direction — and multiplied opportunity for others.
FAQs
Q: What was John Witri’s profession before Primerica?
He was a partner at a major law firm.
Q: Which law firm did he work for?
Baker Hostetler.
Q: Where did he attend college?
The University of Michigan.
Q: Where was the opportunity meeting held?
At the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
Q: How quickly did he become a Vice President?
Within ten months of going full-time.
Q: What investment strategy excited him?
A protected index strategy with downside buffer protection.
Q: Which index is commonly used in that strategy?
The S&P 500 price return index.
Q: What are the two key moving parts of the strategy?
The cap and the buffer.
Q: What percentage of assets in his hierarchy came from recruiting-driven growth?
Over 90%.
Q: What leadership philosophy does he emphasize?
Approach every day with enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
Q: What question does he use to inspire confidence?
Who’s got it better than us?
Q: What is his long-term organizational goal?
To promote 20 additional Regional Vice Presidents.
Glossary
Regional Vice President RVP
A leadership level within Primerica representing independent business ownership and team development.
Protected Index Strategy
An investment structure that links returns to a market index while providing defined downside protection.
Cap
The maximum return allowed within a defined term.
Buffer
A percentage of loss protection that shields investors from initial market declines.
Assets Under Management AUM
The total market value of investments managed on behalf of clients.
Field Training
Hands-on development of new representatives through real client appointments and mentorship.
Dual Direction Strategy
A structured index approach that can generate gains within defined positive or negative index ranges.
Transcript:
Thank you. I appreciate it. I’m excited to be here. Thank God for Kim every day and her team. Thank you for our team that’s out there. I’ll tell you a little bit about my background. First of all, I grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Very youngest of six kids. Very middle class upbringing. No lawyers in my family like that. But I was a good student. So I went to, as any great kid in the state of Michigan would, they went to the University of Michigan, of course. Go blue. And then I was doing well, so I decided to go to law school. And when I graduated law school, I kind of followed the crowd and just interviewed and got the highest paying job I could with one of the biggest law firms in the world.
And I moved to Cleveland with this firm called Baker Hosteller. Loved the firm, loved the people, loved the institution, hated practice and law. But I stuck it out just like you would have. And after seven years there, I made partners. I was 31. I’m a new partner. I had a six figure income, but I’d gotten everything I didn’t want out of my life. I was miserable every day. I used to call it my Sunday night feeling because on Sunday nights, I was sick to my stomach about the work week. But after a while, my Sunday night feeling became a seven day a week, 24 hours day feeling. But I didn’t know what to do. I felt trapped. I wasn’t interviewing. I wasn’t looking.
And then out of the blue, some guy, two years after I made partner, left a message on my voicemail saying he was a recruiter with primerica. I said, okay, I’m excited about that because I didn’t know any recruiters other than law firm recruiters. I didn’t want to do that anymore. So I almost didn’t go to the meeting, but I ended up going to the meeting at the Cleveland Zoo at opportunity meeting. And the shout out here goes to Jerry Byer because at that point, he was already making. Jerry’s already making 60, 70, 80,000 a month. And he drove 3 hours to Cleveland, to the zoo to do a corporate overview. There were three people at the overview, but I was one of them. So it worked out okay for Jerry, but it definitely worked out okay for me.
So I was so excited, I quit my job. I gave notice about two weeks later, gave two months notice and went full time. And after I went full time, took me ten months to become a vice president. It’s just been an amazing career change. We’ve got 20 rvps with a goal to have 20 more in the next couple of years, we’re not done yet. We’re just getting started. It’s exciting time. And if Michigan can win the national championship, we could promote a ton of vice presidents. So let’s talk about equitable for a second. So, five years ago, when this product was introduced to us, I got excited about it because it made total sense to me, because I heard Tony talk about scared money. People have scared money. They want to invest, but they also are worried about losing money.
So what this product does, it was five years ago in 2018 when we first got it, and it allows people to invest in the S P for. Most of my clients are in the S P price return index, but they have downside protection. So this is an amazing product for people because they look at that market trend, and if you look at that market trend, it goes up and down, and you might hit a downward trend. So the clients are worried about that. But with this product, they don’t need to be worried about it. Okay. So if you look at the next page, Kevin showed you the lines, but basically, there’s only two moving parts. There’s a cap, and the caps are really high.
Right now, for the 15% dual direction, which I’m going to show you here, the cap is 120%, meaning in the next six years, if someone puts a million dollars, they could go up to 2.2 million. In this, the buffer is the only other moving part that’s a 15% buffer. So the way the dual direction works, if it goes up, you get all the upside to the cap, but the caps are really high, so it’s almost a non factor. And the downside with the dual direction between zero and 15%, instead of not losing money, you get the plus side. So if it goes down twelve, which is unlikely, in the next six years, you would get plus twelve instead. So it’s an amazing thing. You get to tell your clients certain things.
So if you look at this, if you look on the right side, it says the largest six year loss in the SP 500 index, dating back to 1980, was negative 15.4. That only happened one time in, like, 432 six year periods. And so in all the other periods, you would have made money. And in that one time, if you had the unluckiest client ever, they would have lost 0.4%. So 99.8% of the time, they make money, and they’re not likely to lose any money. So it’s an amazing story, but you also get to tell people certain things. You get to tell people certain things with this product that allow you not only the net negative 15.4 at the bottom where it says negative 15% segment buffer, you’ve got 99.8% of the time they make money. So it’s an amazing product.
And you get to say certain things. I’m going to show you on this next page some of the things that we can say that Kevin has to couch a little. But basically they’re all true because it allows you to differentiate yourself with the client. Because what are clients sometimes worried about? Sometimes price is an issue only in the absence of value. Correct? But sometimes clients are worried about the fees, they’re worried about sales charges, they’re worried about this, they’re worried about that. And with this product, not for 100% of their portfolio, but for a big portion of their portfolio that they don’t need touch for six years. You get to tell people, you can get s and P 500 price return index, market returns with no fees, no sales charges, no riders and no expenses.
And I can tell you this, clients like no fees, no sales charges, no expenses. And they like it all. No riders. There’s no complexity. It’s annuity, but it’s annuity in name only. Because most annuities can be expensive. They can be worth it, but they can be expensive. And many annuities can be complicated. So this is neither expensive or complicated. So it differentiates you in the marketplace and not many. If you’re talking to people, you’re going to have so much success with this product. I encourage you to talk to your equitable wholesaler. Now, it’s not just equitable. Lincoln has a great product. Brighthouse has a great product. But I’ve just done a lot of equitable. We’ve got a personal, probably 11 million assets under management with equitable in this product. In the base shop, we have probably 20 million.
In our hierarchy, we have 40 to 50 million. But the one thing I would guarantee you this is that 90 plus percent of those clients came from recruiting someone, recruiting and field training someone, or result of recruiting someone. Everything great comes from recruiting and field training and licensing and promoting people. And that includes securities volume. So don’t miss the boat with this. This is about recruiting, field training, licensing and promoting people. I’ll leave you with this. My favorite, I went to school with Jim Harbaugh. He’s an acquaintance of mine. And my favorite thing that he says is this. He says, approach every day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. Approach every day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. And if you do that, you’re going to be successful in life. You’re going to be successful in Primerica.
And the other thing he says is this. And it applies not only to Michigan, but it applies to primerica. And that’s this. Who’s got it better than us? Nobody. See at the top shape pink.
